Johnston School Board Video Coming to a Computer Near You

You might not feel like leaving the house to attend a Johnston school board meeting, but would you watch a video recording of a session?

You will soon have the means to do so.

On Monday, the board approved a contract with CI3, a Des Moines company, to install two cameras, software and train someone on use of the system for the cost of $9,975.

The total cost doesn't take into account the time it will take a district employee to catalogue and upload the videos to the district website, a piece of the puzzle that didn't sit well with several board members.

"We don't really know how involved it will be," said technology director Tony Sparks. "It will be taped and someone will have to do the indexing, every line item on there you have to tell what second that starts."

Sparks said it would be difficult to estimate the time it would take for a staff member to do the work, making it nearly impossible to estimate a cost for personnel.

In April, the board at a cost of up to $10,000. That motion passed in a 4 to 3 vote.

On Monday, the district had to determine whether the cost of personnel fell within the confines of the motion not to spend more than $10,000 on the project.

Board member John Dutcher said the original board motion did not specifically address staff time and costs. However, other board member said that should be included in the total cost.

Dutcher said it came down to whether the board wanted to be transparent with the community.

"The question is, we either want to be transparent with the public or you don't," he said.

Board president Marci Cordaro said the discussion truly centered on what the board agreed to in April.

"We want to be official with minutes and what we voted on," she said.

Board member Jill Morrill said she had not heard from constituents concerned about board transparency, but rather the desire that the board should not spend money on videotaping meetings.

Board member Greg Dockum, who made the original motion in April, said the additional cost bothered him.

"The cost concerns me because we aren't staying under $10,000," he said. "With everything going on in media and other school districts. I think we need to have some kind of recording ability for our board meetings. It's worthwhile to have them recorded. It's important to me that we watch our dollars. The fact this goes over $10,000 is a problem."

Board member Julie Walters expressed concern over the board's discussion of spending $10,000 versus larger ticket issues.

"When we have a $51 million bond referendum on the table, we spend a lot less time talking about $51 million than talking about $10,000," she said.

Superintendent Clay Guthmiller told the board that staff members tried to work within the confines of the motion.

"Off all the applications we looked at, none of those have we talked about conversion time," he said. "We knew that was going to be outside. We have a solution that is workable."

Ultimately, the board voted 5-2 to approve the contract, with Farrell and board member Deb Henry dissenting.

Guthmiller said the district was shooting for the week of July 9 to have the equipment installed and in order.